Wednesday, January 05, 2022
Joint paper with RKI
Lauterbach wants to shorten the quarantine
Shortly before the Corona summit on Friday, Federal Health Minister Lauterbach presented his counterparts in the federal states with proposals for new quarantine rules. Separate requirements would therefore apply to jobs in critical infrastructure and those who are boosted.
In view of the still tense corona situation, Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach presented his country colleagues with a recommendation for new quarantine rules. The department of the SPD politician worked out a corresponding “sketch” for a possible regulation together with the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). The paper is available at ntv.de.
In a video conference with the state ministers, Lauterbach made the proposal, according to ntv information, to differentiate between quarantine and isolation in the new regulations. One quarantine continue to take place if a person has had contact with a corona infected person, a isolation again after a proven infection.
The Ministry and the RKI suggest:
- Infected people or those who have had contact with an infected person must generally be in isolation or quarantine for 10 instead of 14 days. This ends without testing.
- With a negative test (if possible a PCR or a high-quality antigen test), the isolation or quarantine can be ended after 7 days.
Exceptions would apply to people with a booster vaccination. Boosted could therefore be exempted from the quarantine requirement for contact persons from 7 days after the third vaccination. “Fresh” double vaccinated (from the 14th day and up to two months after the second vaccination) as contact persons do not have to be in quarantine, just like Recoveredwhose Covid illness was less than two months ago.
Also are possible Critical Infrastructure Rules listed in the paper. These would apply to professions such as nurses or doctors. The quarantine of contact persons could then be ended after 5 days with a negative PCR result, and the isolation of infected people could in turn end after 7 days with a negative test. The condition should be that you have been symptom-free for at least 48 hours beforehand.
Because of the rapid spread of the Omikron variant, politicians are discussing how the critical infrastructure could be kept running even when the number of infections is very high. The Federal Ministry of Health and the RKI justify the adjustments with a shorter “generation time” of the variant – it is less contagious.
The would therefore be omitted Differentiation between contact with the Delta or a worrisome virus variant like omicron. So far, the quarantine rules for Omikron contacts have been stricter. Also for that School and day-care center shorter quarantine times are suggested. Children and adolescents would therefore only have to be in quarantine for 5 days, which would end with a test (PCR test or high-quality antigen test). The paper also recommends wearing a protective mask in schools.